Chapter 116: Against "They

Invaders from beyond the world—the gloom angels.

Fanatic believers who converted after receiving the 'guidance' of a gloom angel, their very essence completely deviated from humanity.

Beings that defied common sense, with bizarre forms and traits, widespread contamination, and powers beyond what current technology could counter—studying them meant risking corruption, yet without knowledge, there was no way to fight those invaders.

Yu Sheng gradually refined his impressions of the gloom angels and their cultists in his mind, sketching their outlines and speculating about their true nature.

Song Cheng stopped, not interrupting Yu Sheng's thoughts. Only after a long while did Yu Sheng break the silence: "From what you're saying, up to now, you haven't managed to kill a single gloom angel?"

Song Cheng sighed, spreading his hands helplessly. Xu Jiali nodded beside him and spoke in a low, gruff voice: "We've tried every method, every faction has made attempts, but the existence of gloom angels is... bizarre. They don't seem to fully occupy the position where they're observed. Any attack deflects as it approaches them. If by chance one hits, it's extremely difficult to cause damage to their surface. Not to mention that some gloom angels aren't even in normal material form—how are you supposed to kill a shadow or a beam of light?"

The two-meter-tall man clicked his tongue in clear displeasure, then continued: "The closest we ever came to success was the 'Angelfall' operation that took place on the border of the Algred region ten years ago.

"They prepared for a long time and were extremely fortunate to capture the signal of the angel 'Beauty' before its descent. An army that had been injected with sanity blockers and equipped with heavy protective gear assembled on the great plains, bombarding the entire area of the angel's descent with heavy firepower, and even used a gravity bomb in an attempt to counteract the 'deflection' phenomenon surrounding the angel.

"According to signals from the monitoring equipment deployed on site, the gravity bomb worked. A massive amount of firepower did rain down on 'Beauty' and its throne. That was also the first time people collected data on the angel's 'body strength'—it withstood almost all the initial attacks, but after sustained bombardment, its body began to crack and dissipate... but that was it.

"After reaching a certain level of damage, 'Beauty' vanished from the plains. The traps and containment measures set up in advance were completely ineffective. And when the angel reappeared a few years later, it had fully recovered."

Yu Sheng listened in shock, remaining silent for a long time.

The scene Xu Jiali described clearly exceeded the normal scope of the Special Services Bureau's operations. It was a war—a war between an entire civilization called 'Algred' and a single descending entity. Yet even with that seemingly overwhelming one-sided firepower, the result was merely a successful 'exile'...

"That's the upper limit of damage humanity can inflict on a gloom angel right now—cripple it and then banish it. And considering that in most cases we don't even have a chance to lock onto the angel's descent location in advance, even this kind of 'banishment' relies entirely on luck," Song Cheng broke the silence from the side. "Moreover, according to post-operation statistics, even with extensive protective measures, nearly a thousand soldiers were affected during Operation Angelfall, and hundreds were transformed into admirers of Beauty during that battle, requiring lifelong psychological treatment."

Ai Lin blinked as she listened, then suddenly remarked, "...It feels like there's no way to win at all."

"No," Xu Jiali immediately shook her head. "Although Operation Angelfall didn't achieve the expected results, it still encouraged everyone—because those things really can be hurt. They might not necessarily bleed, but at least we confirmed that they aren't the 'Lord' the angel cultists talk about. The firepower of this world can hurt them, can drive them away. So one day, we'll be able to develop technology to kill angels. In fact, we might already have such firepower. As long as we can figure out the principle behind gloom angel descent and find a way to detect and trap them, we'll definitely be able to deal with them."

Hearing Xu Jiali's earnest and resolute rebuttal, Ai Lin opened her mouth and finally managed, "...Your human optimism and tenacity are truly admirable."

"The good news is that gloom angels descend into the real world very rarely, and they don't actively launch 'attacks' or target densely populated areas," Song Cheng said from the side. "Most of the time, the gloom angels that descend into the real world just appear randomly in the civilized world—sometimes in desolate borderlands, sometimes even farther away. In those cases, the damage they cause is very limited.

"Relatively speaking, the damage they cause when descending into anomalous domains is greater—an anomalous domain that has been parasitized by an angel will have its danger level increased by at least one grade. Some originally stable and harmless anomalous domains can become dangerous 'traps' in the real world. There have even been cases where angels changed the restriction rules of an anomalous domain, causing certain entities to briefly come into the real world... For organizations like the Special Services Bureau, this is a greater disaster."

Yu Sheng's gaze involuntarily swept over the documents on the table again.

After a moment, he turned the topic back to the incident in Boundary City.

"So, what exactly did those two angel cultists in the museum want to do?"

"Summon their 'Lord' here," Song Cheng said solemnly.

Ai Lin: "...They're insane!"

"Exactly, people with normal minds wouldn't become angel cultists," Xu Jiali shook her head. "They're just keen on this kind of thing—conducting their mysterious 'sacrifices' inside anomalous domains. Since gloom angels descend more easily into anomalous domains, they think using special rituals to contaminate the domain can attract their 'Lord' here."

"Is this method effective?" Yu Sheng couldn't help but ask curiously.

"In most cases, it's actually futile, only increasing the number of victims. After all, gloom angels don't actually respond to those cultists' prayers," Song Cheng waved his hand. "But the fear is in the small probability—they conduct all kinds of evil and chaotic sacrifices, essentially trying to attract the angel's 'attention.' Once the number increases, one of them might actually succeed. There are records in history of such 'summoned descents,' and not just once or twice.

"Therefore, promptly eliminating those angel cultists who show up has become a very important and effective method in dealing with gloom angels—we might find it hard to kill an 'angel,' but by stamping out those sacrificial activities, we can greatly reduce the probability of gloom angel descents. On the other hand, wiping out those cultists is also a way to control the spread of informational contamination from the gloom angels."

Song Cheng paused for a while, organizing his thoughts, then continued: "Our people will enter the 'Museum' tonight to deal with the sacrificial scene left there and confirm the identities of the victims. Additionally, we'll conduct a thorough inspection of the entire Museum and the 'Theater' outside to see if those angel cultists left behind any other hidden dangers."

"They infiltrated the anomalous domain, bypassing the node surveillance," Yu Sheng reminded. "Have you found out why?"

"We're investigating, but it won't be quick," Song Cheng shook his head. "The node surveillance network has been operating normally. With the ability of angel cultists, it's impossible for them to damage the node network in a place like the Borderlands without being discovered—not to mention, they couldn't have evaded our director's 'eyes' in the first place. For now, we suspect they found another 'entrance'... one not registered in the database, never discovered before, leading to the Museum."

Yu Sheng looked astonished: "There are other entrances?"

"The probability is very low, but not zero," Song Cheng nodded. "In essence, an 'anomalous domain' is a special information structure constrained by rules that produces 'limited overlap' with the real world. That is, as long as its entry conditions are met, any place can become an entrance to an anomalous domain. Under normal circumstances, except for a few abnormal types, the entry conditions for normal anomalous domains are strongly bound to specific locations in the real world. In the Borderlands, these locations are all under the surveillance of the Special Services Bureau—but as I said, there's no such thing as a hundred percent accident-free situation in this world."

Yu Sheng stroked his chin and muttered, "So that's how it is... 'Accidents' really are hard to guard against."

Li Lin, who had been silent from the start, finally couldn't hold it in anymore. He looked up at Yu Sheng: "The moment you opened that door, you were that 'accident' as far as we were concerned."

Yu Sheng instantly adjusted to a more serious sitting posture, as if that remark hadn't come from him.

"The main reason we came today was to tell you these things," Song Cheng cleared his throat, as if ignoring the exchange between Yu Sheng and Li Lin. "Regarding 'gloom angels,' you've already dealt with them. In the days to come, your probability of encountering them again will be far higher than ordinary people. Accumulating some knowledge in this area in advance might come in handy later.

"Besides that, if there's anything else you need help with from the Special Services Bureau—whether in your work as a Spirit World Detective or with troubles involving anomalous domains and entities—you can always tell us. The Bureau always values its 'partners.'"

Upon hearing this, Yu Sheng actually thought seriously for a moment, and then, just before Song Cheng could stand up to say goodbye, he suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, right, there actually is something. I don't know if you can help."

Song Cheng was taken aback: "Ah... go ahead."

Yu Sheng thought about it, feeling a bit embarrassed: "The fact that takeout and deliveries can't be made to 66 Wutong Road—do you have a way to solve that?"

Song Cheng: "...Huh?"

(End of chapter)